Media News

The Morning Newsfeed: 03.16.07

CBS Deal Brings NCAA Tourney Channel to YouTube (Mediaweek)
CBS has announced a deal with YouTube in which the TV network will launch a CBS Sports NCAA Tournament Channel on the YouTube site. The channel, to be sponsored by Pontiac, will feature NCAA tournament game clips and highlights, uploaded by College Sports Television (a unit of CBS) in near real time, from the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship, which began airing yesterday. LAT: Is Redstone of two minds on YouTube? B&C: Cable chiefs are still unsure whether YouTube is a friend or a foe.

Barbara Walters Interviews Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (ABC News)
ABC News' Barbara Walters sits down with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela tonight for an interview in which Chavez shares his views on the United States, President Bush and America's 2008 presidential elections. Hugo Chavez made headlines across America when he famously called Bush "the devil" in a speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York last year.

Greenwich Village Killer Was a Former WSJ Reporter, Editor (AP and E&P)
Richard Garvin, the gunman who killed two unarmed volunteer police officers and a bartender in Greenwich Village Wednesday, worked as an information graphics coordinator for the Wall Street Journal from 2000 to 2005. Police found a resume on Garvin's computer that listed jobs as a reporter, stringer and layout editor at The Journal and other newspapers.

Les Wants More (NYP)
Sources say Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone wants CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves to restructure his compensation package to align it with both his and Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman's pay plans, which have recently been changed to be tied more to share price performance and less to a straight salary and bonus. Moonves, however, has so far been resistant to the change.

More Money, Less Booty For BET (WaPo)
Parent Viacom will increase BET's budget for original programming by 30 to 50 percent this year, and will continue to grow it at that pace in coming years, Viacom CEO Philippe P. Dauman said. The expanded slate of original programming coincides with BET's launch of a home-entertainment division and new digital strategy under BET Chief Executive Debra L. Lee, said BET chief of staff Tom Reynolds.

Bill Mad Over NYT's 'Hillary Bashing' (Page Six)
At a fund-raiser Tuesday night at the apartment of mortgage mogul Keith Kantrowitz, former president Bill Clinton spoke for two hours to a select group that had contributed the maximum $2,300 to Hillary's presidential campaign, and much of his talk was devoted to attacking the Times. "He said his wife wasn't getting a fair shake from the Times," said guest Curtis Sliwa.

CBS Radio Chair Hollander Heading for Exit? (NYP)
CBS Radio Chairman and CEO Joel Hollander is quietly laying the groundwork to step down before his contract expires at year's end after a discordant relationship with CBS boss Les Moonves. Hollander is said to be tired of the continual battles with Moonves over the radio unit's direction. "Hollander's a radio guy, and CBS doesn't understand radio nor do they like radio," said one source.

American Media Again Misses Financial Statement Filing Deadline (Folio:)
Yesterday marked the deadline for the filing of AMI's third quarter, fourth quarter and full-year 2006 results, but the company told note holders Wednesday that it once again does not have them ready. The company says the results will be ready by March 23. Last month, the company agreed to pay note holders between $687,500 and $1.375 million for again postponing the restatement.

A Blog That Dare Not Speak Its Name (Page Six)
Anna Wintour is as picky with words as she is with her wardrobe. According to one Vogue-er, "They are expanding the Vogue Web site and getting more involved with the Internet. But Anna hates the word 'blog' so much, she refuses to call anything on her site a blog and has charged her staff with coming up with a new word that isn't as garish-sounding. She wants it ASAP  in time for launch."

The Difficulty of Bringing Community News to the Web (BusinessWeek)
Jon Fine: There are media geeks who have been waiting ten years for the Web to take over community news. Pick a town, preferably one in a well-heeled suburb, that's underserved by the big metro newspaper. Newspapers had hoped that the ultralocal community Web site company Backfence would show the way, but the project has proven harder than expected.

Newsweek Heralds a Dot-Com Strategy to Retain Relevance (Marketwatch)
"I don't want to sound mindlessly Darwinian about this," editor Jon Meacham said about the Newsweek-Time rivalry. "We had a Cold War mentality; now we're competing with everyone [online]... The readers don't care about broad statements of mission. They care about what they get on every page of the magazine and every day online." Folio: Stengel says the Time redesign will provide a "clearer, more forward-looking take on the world."

Spielberg Tackles TV Comedy (Variety)
It's Showtime for Steven Spielberg. The pay cable network is stepping up development of The United States of Tara, a half-hour, single-camera comedy from DreamWorks based on a Spielberg idea. The show will revolve around an ordinary-seeming wife and mother of two teenage kids  who also happens to suffer from dissociative identity (formerly multiple personality) disorder.

Washington Post Sports Columnists Missing in Action? (Washingtonian)
Harry Jaffe: The Post Sports section needs to beef up its roster of columnists. The first team  Tony Kornheiser and Mike Wilbon  shows up less and less in the newspaper. If the backbone of a sports section is great columnists  Shirley Povich in his day at the Post, Dave Anderson at the New York Times, Bob Ryan at the Boston Globe  the Post can barely hold itself up.

Women and Work: Why Can't the Press Get It Right? (CJR)
E. J. Graff: So yes, maybe some women "chose" to go home. But they didn't choose the restrictions and constrictions that made their work lives impossible. They didn't choose the cultural expectation that mothers, not fathers, are responsible for their children's doctor visits, birthday parties, piano lessons, and summer schedules. And they didn't choose the bias or earnings loss that they face.

You've Read the Novels (Now Read the Footnotes) (NYT)
Reanimating the details does enrich one's reading. They can illuminate and sometimes enlighten. Most facts are merely dated equivalents of present-day realities  one form of currency for another  but others help explain character and motivation. That's why there's a niche market for annotated editions and period guides.